Speaking at a conference this week Michael Owen suggested English football
followers were losing the taste for the international game.

“I think it still means as much to the players. But maybe to the general public it has lost its sparkle. I think the Premier League has got that big that on a normal Saturday afternoon that is what your man in the street prefers.”

It is more than four years since Owen was in an England squad and perhaps longer since he was in regular contact with the man on the street, so the erstwhile legend can be forgiven his jaundiced take.

The 84,654 who made it to Wembley last night to watch the team ranked fifth in the world take on the outfit lying a mere 202 places below them offered an alternative view on the appeal of internationals.

Before the game, the Football Association had declared it a 90,000 sell-out. Perhaps some punters reasoned that buying a ticket was commitment enough for a mismatch, and that braving Friday-night gridlock on road and rail to actually attend would be stretching the point.

But even short of absolute capacity the turn-out was an astonishing endorsement of the appeal of the national team. It was comfortably more than the 68,102 that turned out for the far more competitive qualifier against Ukraine last month. It exceeded the lowest new Wembley England crowd, 48,876 for a friendly against Sweden last November, by more than the 33,000 population of last night’s opponents.

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The contrast with other corners of Europe was stark. World champions Spain struggled to even sell TV rights for their visit to Belarus, and as has become customary, it was the biggest crowd on the continent on Friday night. The FA worked hard to sell the seats. Ordinary tickets ranged from £20 to £40. About 8,000 Olympic and Paralympic Games makers took advantage of an offer to buy for £20.12 each, and with no school to worry about the next day, 22,000 family tickets were sold at £60 for two adults and two kids.

Even with the discounts the quality of the opposition might have been expected to have an effect, but families in the stands were apparently content to watch Happy Families on the pitch.

San Marino’s PE teacher coach Giampaolo Mazza sent out a full deck of trades and professions including two students, two barmen and a removal man to go with a pair of accountants and the obligatory bank clerk, though in the first half at least they were not required to keep track of an extravagant score.

England survived the first 8.3 sec to keep Davide Gualtieri’s legend alive, and dominated without success until two goals in three minutes from Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck stopped attention drifting. Long before the end an almost Olympic good-cheer settled on the ground.

The attendance will please Michel Platini almost as much as the FA, providing a counterpoint to criticism of his plans to expand Euro 2016 to 24 teams, thus watering down qualifying even further.

The argument for the minnows to compete in a pre-qualifying school will continue to be made, but there was a counter argument in the score from Chisinau last night. Moldova, ranked 145 and walloped 5-0 at home by England last month, held Ukraine to a 0-0 draw. It boosted England’s prospects, as well as providing a reminder that competition is deeper than it sometimes looks.

England at home remain a huge draw almost regardless of the opposition, and they will be back next February when Brazil are the visitors.